


We're Just Rocks Tumbled Smooth

by violasarecool



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Gen, Swimming, discussions of the fade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:21:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22577746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violasarecool/pseuds/violasarecool
Summary: in which swimming lessons segue into philosophical discussions of the fade
Relationships: Cole & Lavellan
Kudos: 10





	We're Just Rocks Tumbled Smooth

It was early afternoon, and the sun fell across the landscape like a warm blanket, brightening the grassy plains and settling into Liana's skin until dark droplets of sweat glistened across her arms. She ran a hand down her damp forehead, staring longingly at the reflective surface of the lake ahead of them, pristine water catching the sunlight like a sword. "Sylaise, it's been so long since I've been swimming," she groaned, wrinkling her nose with an expression that was almost _theatrically_ pathetic.

Cassandra, walking a few paces ahead of her, only grunted. "What, do they not _have_ swimming in _Nevarra_?" Liana demanded, speeding up to match her pace.

"Of course we do," Cassandra said irritably, "I swam every day as a child. But it is the pastime of youths and idle nobles—I simply do not have the time for such frivolities these days, least of all with the added responsibility of the Inquisition."

"I've never been swimming," Cole piped up from behind them, and the rest of the group turned to look at him.

"Wait, what?" Liana gaped at Cole. "Never?"

"Never," Cole said earnestly.

"That's the saddest thing I've ever heard," Liana declared. "In _my_ clan, we swim before we walk." She tipped her head at Cole with the beginnings of a grin. "I can teach you, if you like."

Cole considered her for a moment. "I _would_ like that," he said.

 _"Yesss,"_ Liana cheered under her breath. Then, she cleared her throat, glancing between Solas and Cassandra. " _Since_ we've been walking all day, shall we take a break?"

"Certainly," Solas said (with the faintest twist of his lips that Liana had categorized as mild amusement).

Cassandra waved a hand at them with a sigh. "Go ahead. I do not believe I could stop you if I tried."

 _You might try handcuffing me again,_ Liana almost said, but—too petty, and it wouldn't get a laugh from pucker-mouthed Cassandra. She turned back to Cole—and gasped, clapping a hand over her mouth. "Cole!" she giggled through her fingers, _"Creators,_ you're supposed to take your shoes off!"

"What?" Cole looked down at the lakewater now lapping around his ankles; he lifted a foot, sending water streaming off a very soggy leather-clad foot. "Why?"

Liana gave a helpless look back at the others; Cassandra looked like she was torn between exasperation and some tiny movement of her lips that Liana supposed might count as a smile. Solas cleared his throat. "The water damages them," he said.

"Oh." Cole took a couple steps back out of the water, and lifted one foot into the air, wobbling unsteadily as he tugged the sodden shoe off his foot.

Liana giggled.

"Does it damage other clothes as well?" Cole asked, as he dropped his second shoe on the ground.

"It's warm, you'll dry off quickly," Liana said dismissively. She dipped her own bare toes into the water; it was cool, and clearer than the water that pooled near her clan's encampment. When she stepped down, dust swirled around her foot.

"Won't my shoes dry off?" Cole was saying to Solas as he stepped back into the shallows.

"They will, but most clothing can stand to be soaked in water for hours. Leather cannot."

"Why?"

"That is simply how it is."

Liana glanced at Solas; he seemed serene as always, but she decided to save him from Cole's questions anyway. "Come on, Cole, you've got to come in deeper!" She splashed some water his way with a flick of her hand, grinning.

Cole blinked as droplets sprayed his face. "It's like rain." He brushed a hand across the surface of the water; gently, then with more force, watching as water spewed into the air.

"Come _on,"_ Liana repeated, waving him over, and he slowly walked in deeper, watching the swirling of the water with interest.

The ground sloped slowly away beneath them; by the time Liana could crouch down and float in the water, Solas and Cassandra were specks on the shore. "It's cold," Cole said—more observation than complaint—blinking as he watched the water lap at his arms.

"It's _amazing,"_ Liana said, flipping over to float on her back with a rapturous smile. "Dirth's shadow, how I've missed water."

"Why would you miss it?" Cole asked. "There's water in Skyhold. There's water _everywhere."_

Liana gave a huff of a laugh. "Not like this, not lakes, or rivers, or swamps. Nothing to wade in, or swim in." She let her legs sink back downward, pulling herself upright with a sweep of her hands. A few feet away, Cole's head rested just above the waterline, his knees sitting squarely in the rocky bottom of the lake. "Cole," Liana laughed, swimming closer, "that's not swimming, that's _kneeling._ You've got to move your arms and legs, push the water around a bit."

"Like this?" Cole waved his hands back and forth in the water in a tenuous imitation of Liana's paddling—except while Liana barely moved the water above her, Cole's hands were sending waves of water out to the sides.

Liana giggled. "Kind of." She grabbed one of his hands, tipping it to face downward. "You want to push down, so you go up. Like... okay, not quite like that, it's..." She narrowed her eyes at the water's surface, thinking. "You know what, it's probably easier to try it like a frog. Here, try this..."

They swam back toward the adjacent shoreline, stopping occasionally to soak up sun-warmed patches of water. As Cole started to get the hang of it, Liana shapeshifted into a grey-spotted cat, her sleek form twirling through the water like a fish. "I thought cats didn't like water," Cole said, pausing to watch her as she bobbed on the surface, paws tucked above her chest. "When it rains, the cats come hide in the kitchens, or in the halls."

The cat gave a bright chirp as if to say, _not this cat!_

 _"I_ like water," Cole said. "It feels a little like being in the Fade—floating, flowing, formless; slow to fall, but quickly forgotten, glimmers of light and rushing whispers..."

There was a light whoosh, and the water slopped outward as the cat turned back into an elf. "Yeah," Liana said. She tipped her head up at Cole, hands gently swirling back and forth in the water. "I expect we don't experience the Fade quite the same way, but. For me, it always feels so... unreal. Intangible, I guess, but also like reality is everything around you. If, uh," she gave him a sideways glance, "if that makes sense."

"The Fade _is_ everything around you," Cole said earnestly. "But it also..." He stopped abruptly, then ducked underwater, sending a spray of water that spattered Liana's face and torso. She stared at his water-distorted outline, then took a deep breath, and ducked under the water herself.

Instant quiet; Cole's hand, waving inches away, his face, marbled in dull green. The soft warble of water in her ears. As the dust from their movement settled, she began to see the distant slope of the ground across the bottom of the lake, quick dark shadows that might have been fish. Then, a garbled noise as Cole opened his mouth and a stream of bubbles came out instead of words; a moment later, he stood up, sending water and dirt rushing upward with a dull rush of sound.

Liana did the same, bursting out into the bright sunlight, water streaming down her face. "—like that," Cole was saying, wet hair limp against the sides of his face, "coocooned from the cacophony—it pushes and pulls, presses down but also up, from every direction, always changing—no." He stopped suddenly, frowning, and Liana glanced at him.

"No?"

"No," he repeated, staring blankly at the water. "Not changing. I forgot."

"What do you mean? The Fade is _always_ changing, that's what makes it so hard to navigate."

"Not changing _things,"_ Cole said. He reached down with one hand, sending dirt particles up through the water as he dragged his hand through the mud and silt. A moment later, he pulled up a handful of smooth pebbles, water and dirt streaming off his hand. "Water makes the pointed rocks smooth; it keeps touching them until they become something new. The Fade doesn't make anything new. It doesn't learn." He opened his hand, letting the rocks fall back into the water.

Liana tipped her head, watching as the water rippled outward then gradually began to settle once more. "Kind of like you. The rocks," she clarified hastily, "not the, not learning."

"What? I'm not a rock."

Liana snorted. "Not... I just mean, you said, _Solas_ said, spirits don't change. But _you_ changed. You're learning, right now. If you're a rock... our world is the water."

Cole was silent for a moment; he watched their legs splash through the water with such intense concentration that Liana assumed he'd abandoned the conversation. Then, he said, "no one asked the rock if it wanted to change."

Liana glanced at him uncertainly; the shore was now almost a stone's throw away. "Did... did you want to?"

"I think," Cole said earnestly, "it would take a very long time to ask them all. Do you know how to talk to rocks? Should I ask Solas?"

 _"Definitely_ ," Liana said.


End file.
